查看文章

Several lines of evidence have established that performance during the initial steps of acquisition on a shuttle-box avoidance task is an anxiety-mediated behavior (i.e., the differences between strains selectively bred for emotionality; the effects of postnatal handling; the course of the corticosterone response and behavioral measures of fear during acquisition). The present study was carried out to add pharmacological evidence to that view by testing the action of anxiogenic and anxiolytic drugs. Single 40-trial sessions with mild shocks (0.4 mA–0.6 mA) were used. In the first experiments the action of sodium pentobarbital (1.25, 2.5 and 5 mg/kg) and three benzodiazepines (diazepam, 2 and 4 mg/kg; alprazolam, 1 1.25 and 1.5 mg/ kg and adinazolam, 1, 2, 4 and 6 mg/kg) were tested. The last two experiments tested a possible proanxiety action of Ro 15–4513 (2, 5 and 10 mg/kg) and FG 7142 (5, 10 and 15 mg/kg …